(1) Field of the Invention
The invention pertains generally to hospitality media and entertainment systems. More specifically, the invention relates to integrating content on a guest device with a hospitality media system.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Guests often bring personal electronic devices with them when they stay at hotels, and these devices typically have stored therein movies, music, and other media content. One problem is there is no easy way to utilize the full capabilities of the hotel's media system to play the media stored on the guest's device. One typical solution is to use various hardware adaptor cables to reroute the analog output of the guest's device to analog input ports of speakers or the hotel TV. In this way, some limited use of the hotel's media system can be achieved. However, rerouting analog signals does not allow full integration of guest content with the hotel media system. For example, on-screen interactive media functions, screensavers, special effects, remote controls, wake-up and other alarms, and time based functions are examples of capabilities typically present on hotel media systems, but these functions cannot be performed using media content stored on a guest's own device.